| The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has called on Guyana to make improvements in its protection of its citizens’ human rights, including those of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.CESCR, an international body tasked with ensuring that states that sign on to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stick to their obligations, recently released recommendations on human rights issues.The recommendations came in response to a report by local nongovernmental organisation, the Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD).(left to right) SASOD Founder, Joel Simpson; SASOD Communications Officer, Schemel Patrick; SASOD Member, Monica Brinn; and SASOD Volunteer, Chase GorishekAccording to Monica Brinn, one of the reports’s contributing writers, SASOD’s report focused on the rights of members of the LGBT community, and how they can access necessities that are generally accessible.In giving an overview of the entire process, Brinn said,Cheap Stitched Jerseys, “What was really critical for us is that they added a clause under all of these areas that said that non-discrimination would now include non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and health status, including HIV [Human Immunodeficiency Virus].” She stressed that this was important since, prior to the inclusion of the clause, discrimination had a limited scope. “Guyana is still a party to this covenant and now that these general comments have been added to that, that means that Guyana must abide,” she added.She said that SASOD therefore looked at the covenant as well as general comments coming out of CESCR and developed its report. “We sort of compared and contrasted; we said to the committee that this is what is supposed to be happening and this is what actually is happening,” she said.She said the SASOD report also touched on the Criminal Offences Act and its criminalisation of consensual intimacy between men as well as cross-dressing.She said that while some areas of the Guyana Constitution forbid discrimination of anyone, other Acts limit the parameters of discrimination to only considerations such as race and gender.“Article 149 in the Constitution of Guyana prevents discrimination of any person in Guyana. That article in the constitution doesn’t list out anything; it just says no discrimination of any person in Guyana.“Indeed, there is no need to specify anything,” she said.“But then, we have the Prevention of Discrimination Act of 1997 that specifically had to do with the employment and business sector. It protects employees on the basis of a whole list of things including race, sex, and religion but it does not list sexual identity. So, while on one hand the constitution limits any sort of discrimination, the non-discrimination act excludes non-discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”She added that this is also in contradiction to the covenant. She stressed that non-discrimination on the basis of gender and identity and sexual orientation needed to be included as well as the decriminalisation of intimacy between men and cross-dressing.According to Brinn, the prohibition of discrimination was just one of the articles tackled by SASOD in its report to CESCR.Right to work and education“Guyana has made some strides but there are still some significant areas where more work has to be done,” SASOD Communications Officer Schemel Patrick said. She said that though the Guyana Government introduced a modern Education Bill that sought to enhance the quality of education at all levels, the Bill did not address gender identity and sexual orientation.“One of the major issues we face is homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools. It continues to plague the lives of many LGBT youths. We’ve advocated and recommended to the committee that there needs to be mechanisms and policies that tackle all forms of bullying, including sexual orientation and gender identity.”Patrick continued, “Quite recently, we received a report from a young woman who was threatened by her superiors because they thought she was influencing the other students; they thought that she would ‘pass on’ whatever it is she had to the other students.”She explained that the young woman was threatened with expulsion.“We intervened and she’s back at school but that’s one of the issues that we deal with,” Patrick said. She added that discrimination in school comes not only from peers but also from those in authority.She said too that there is a need for comprehensive sexuality education. “With comprehensive sexuality education, children will be able to make informed decisions and will be helped with their sexual experiences. It could also delay teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.”These issues were raised with CESCR and SASOD recommended the development of inclusive sexual reproductive health curriculum and the development of policies to tackle bullying.SASOD also recommended training programmes for teachers.In response, CESCR recommended that “the state party takes all necessary measures to enhance education and information on sexual and reproductive health through including them in the curriculum in accordance with the evolving capacities of children and adolescents as well as informal education.”CESCR also noted the drain of skilled workforce, particularly in the area of education, and “its negative impact on the enjoyment of rights of people in the state.”In terms of the right to work, Patrick said that workplace discrimination is another common complaint received by SASOD.“We have recommended that there is an amendment of the Prevention of Discrimination Act of 1997 to include sexual orientation, gender identity and health status,” Patrick indicated.She continued, “There are no laws or policies that protect LGBT persons in the workplace.”In turn, CESCR recommended, “The state takes all necessary measures to collect disaggregated statistical data necessary to assess the employment and labour market situation and to review and implement effective labour policies.”Access to healthSASOD and Peace Corps Volunteer, Chase Gorishek, explained that Article 24 of Guyana’s Constitution mandates that every citizen has the right to medical attention. However, he noted that there were some barriers in accessing medical attention and these barriers were founded in discrimination.According to Gorishek, the four main areas that Guyana must tackle to fully comply with Article 12 of the CESCR convention were discrimination when accessing healthcare services; mental health; sexual health; and transgender health.SASOD also recommended the improvement of training and sensitisation of health professionals to increase the understanding of the impacts stigma and discrimination has on HIV prevention and treatment. SASOD also recommended that persons be trained and recruited while the system should be provided with sufficient mental healthcare professionals to address the needs of the general public.Additionally, it was believed that public hospitals should offer screening options for men who have sex with men (MSM) while the University of Guyana should introduce subjects such as intersexuality, transgender and hormonal replacement during the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programmes so that the students will have a theoretical understanding of gender and sexual minorities.It is hoped that this understanding will prepare them to deal with such persons in their work.SASOD also recommended that the public healthcare system’s scope be broadened to include sex realignment surgeries and hormone replacement therapy for transgender Guyanese.In turn, the committee recommended that Guyana should intensify its effort to improve the availability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare services, including in the mental health sector. It was also recommended that Guyana should take all the relevant measures to combat the epidemics of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS and to remove obstacles which hinder access to sexual and reproductive services.“The Committee is also concerned at the drain of skilled workforce, particularly in the area of healthcare, and its negative impact on the enjoyment of the relevant rights by the people of the state party.”Brinn noted that the recommendations do not only focus the LGBT community but the general populace.“Their report is very broad but we, of course, are particularly interested in one area of it,” she said.The report has been made public by the United Nations.She also noted that these recommendations cannot be mandated by UN since the body is not a regulatory one. Nonetheless, she said that the Guyana Government must attempt to live up to its obligations signed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. |
